


Illium

by wolframbeta



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16537445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolframbeta/pseuds/wolframbeta
Summary: I'm still in the planning stages of a longer fic for my spacer / sole survivor Petra Shepard. Until I have a good feel for that story, I plan on releasing shorter pieces as part of the brainstorming process. Stay tuned!





	Illium

_ How could I just let her back in?  _

Her grief still clung heavy to her chest, its weight upon her every breath still so apparent even after two years. Just meat and tubes, a near-infinite budget, and a team of scientists not limited by any set of reasonable ethics -- it wasn’t possible. She’d followed the reports, a trickle of information pointing to rumors, then proof, that Petra Shepard was alive. It came as no surprise, then, that a Petra Shepard would eventually arrive on Illium, and that she would have to face the ghost of her first love. She waived the docking fee as soon as she received word, and prepared herself for her visitor, whoever she may be now.

A brief conversation, a fleeting kiss. Of all the possibilities she’d prepared for, it wasn’t this.  _ It wasn’t possible. _ She watched as Petra Shepard -- no,  _ her _ Petra Shepard -- depart from her office, a weight obvious upon her normally proud shoulders. As the door shut behind her, Liara exhaled, allowing her steely composure to soften.  _ Is it wrong that I hoped she was really gone? _ She had sensed Petra’s eagerness, a spark still in her eye that hinted at the fire inside her knowing her asari bondmate had survived the collector attack two years ago, and knowing she’d die again to do whatever she could to protect her. It didn’t take long for Petra’s passion to fizzle as the realization set in. Liara was no longer the naive archeologist she had ordered to safety as the Normandy crumbled around them. Instead, she was standing before one of Illium’s most powerful and respected information brokers -- her awkward demeanor replaced with cool calculation, science jumpsuits and scrappy casualwear traded for traditionally stiff asari gowns.  _ Is it really, really wrong? _

She turned her attention to the terminal in front of her, only to find her face buried in her hands, a million conflicting emotions threatening to boil past her forced stoicism. She had truly hoped the Petra Shepard arriving on Illium was nothing more than a Cerberus experiment of cybernetics and synthetics, not the charming commander she had grown to love, the one she mourned for two years. 

_ And the one who was now mourning the loss of her gentle asari.  _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still in the planning stages of a longer fic for my spacer / sole survivor Petra Shepard. Until I have a good feel for that story, I plan on releasing shorter pieces as part of the brainstorming process. Stay tuned!


End file.
